Two recent incidents, one in the city and one in the county, make us believe getting properties on the tax rolls sometimes is more important than making sure the rules and regulations governing that property are workable in the real world.
For years, on different sides of the county, we’ve watched homes being put up on every scrap of property in North Chattanooga as that neighborhood came back from the dead over the past 35 years, and suburbs be erected in East Brainerd and Ooltewah before the proper infrastructure was put in place to handle traffic, etc.
Last week, a home under construction in the Oakvale subdivision off Igou Gap Road caught fire, and because of the proximity of houses to each other in the neighborhood, six nearby homes sustained damage from the heat, though Chattanooga Fire Chief Phil Hyman told WTVC-TV the fire was “under control in about 15 or 20 minutes.”
On Sunday, residents who live near the developing Nature Trail subdivision in Soddy-Daisy experienced flooding — not for the first time, they said — from runoff from construction on the neighborhood, which is to have nearly 125 homes on a relatively compact piece of property.
In both cases, the developers are only taking advantage of what is allowed.